Trial, Transition, Growth, Book 2
by DarkDragonQueen
Summary: There's a serial rapist on the loose, but what happens when he comes for Lilith and Sam offers herself instead. Bottled up feelings from the past are releases and in effort to feel comfort, she gets into actions that could damage herself and Lilith.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any character related to it. I am just a dedicated fan.

DarkDragonQueen: I hate my muses at this particular moment. Plot I and III were neck and neck when it came to the votes so when I had decide which one to use, once again Drama and Angst had to pop up in my head. They kept arguing that the first story didn't have enough of them in it and they would not be satisfied until I made a good story with them in it. It got so bad that they started to send me different way to develop the plot of the third Plot and not the first, so in the end I relented. Plot III won and all because my muses wouldn't leave me alone.

**I know it's been a while, but don't mad. I really wanted to update. It's just I've been busy these past months and didn't want to put up the fisrt chapter and have you waiting three weeks for the next chapter. So here I am and I hope you enjoy.**

You know what I'm about to put here so, here's the shortened version. My grammar's not perfect, use of words and spelling make up for that, so don't go tripping about it and so on and so on…

So without further ado I give you the first chapter of the second book of… **_Trial, Transition, Growth._**

**-.oOOo.-**

**The Beginning**

**By**

**DarkDragonQueen**

-.oOOo.-

Sam sighed as she put her pillow over her head. Her alarm clock was blaring in her ear and she was feeling so lazy she really didn't feel attempting to find the button to turn it off. So she did the next best thing. She grabbed onto the plug and pulled it out the socket. Now it was time to get a few more minutes of rest… Or so she had hoped.

"Mommy!" a high pitched yell came and Sam felt the bed bouncing up and down with the weight of her daughter jumping up and down on the bed. "Come on Mommy, time to get up."

Sam groaned and slowly lifted the pillow and the covers off her head to reveal the dyed hair underneath it. She had put the dies back in about a year after Lilith had been born since she had the strength to keep it up. She looked at the violet eyed four year old who was currently jumping on her bed.

"Come on Mommy. You said you'd take me to the zoo today to see the lions." Lilith said while her strawberry blonde hair shook and bounced with her. It was just like her mother's except there was a bit more red in it.

"Okay," Sam said sighing as she got up. "Go get dressed and then I'll make breakfast."

"Can we have cereal?" Lilith asked hopefully

Sam frowned.

"Please Mommy, it's Saturday. I can have whatever I want."

"Alright." Sam said giving in to allow the girl to have sweet sugary cereal she normally only had for dessert on very rare occasions.

"Yay!" Lilith ran out the room to wait for her mother.

Sam got up and went in the bathroom connected to her room. Twenty minutes later she was out and searching her closet for something to wear. She had matured in the past four years since she had had Lilith. She was Nineteen now and in only a month would be twenty. As the years went by her own body had not only gotten back into shape, but developed. So now, instead of being the small A- cup, horribly thin fifteen- year old girl. She was a C- cup, hourglass figured, almost twenty- year old woman, but still quite thin.

Her hair was pulled in a ponytail with a few loose strands in her face. Her face still held a youthful look at some times though, showing just how young she was. She finished dressing and went out the room heading towards the kitchen where Lilith was standing on her tiptoes with a bowl on the table trying to pour her own cereal. Just as it was all about to pour out she ran over and put a hand over Lilith's small one and help her to slowly shake the cereal out.

"You were supposed to wait Lilith." Sam frowned as the young girl sat down and waited impatiently for her mother to pour some milk into her cereal.

"I can do it by myself now." Lilith crossed her arms and frowned.

"Uncross your arms Lilith and if you keep frowning it will make your lips stay in that way permanently.

Lilith looked up at her mother still frowning, but in confusion. "What's permanently?"

"It means forever." Sam smiled as Lilith gasped and quickly dropped her frown.

Sam laughed at the four year old who was now taking small bites of cereal. Sam, deciding she wasn't really hungry decided she would sit down and maybe catch a few more minutes of sleep. Instead, she drifted into her thoughts. She had moved out the Fentons' house as soon as she turned eighteen. The whole family had been in dismay at the thought of her moving out, for she had become another member of the family in the short two and a half years she had been there. In the end, she told them not to worry and that she would visit often. The house had become home in those years she had stayed there.

As for transportation, Aly had come to visit quite upset one day. She was cursing Sam's parents to their grave when she came in uninvited. When asked what her problem was, she said that the (insert some inappropriate words here) were trying to bribe her into staying at home during college. They had purchased another car and then offered to buy her a house as long as she stayed. Aly had ended up giving her the black Cadillac in favor of keeping the Lexus they had brought her.

"Mommy!" Lilith yelled jumping out her chair. "I'm ready to go. Come on."

Sam stood up and put the bowl in the sink. "Okay, Lilith. Let's go."

-.oOOo.-

Lilith ran through the entrance of the museum and without waiting on her mother ran over to a bench where someone was waiting patiently. Lilith grabbed the person around the neck.

"Valerie!" Lilith exclaimed in happiness.

Valerie hugged the little girl back. "Hey Lilith. Where's you mother?"

Lilith looked backwards. "She's walking really slow."

Sam frowned coming up behind Lilith. "Or maybe you go too fast."

Valerie laughed. "Hey Sam! The little rug rat been giving you any trouble?"

"She's/ I'm not a rug rat!" Sam and Lilith said simultaneously, though Sam laughed and Lilith pouted.

Valerie laughed at the pair and Sam had to smile. Over the years she had become close friends with the girl who was a ghost hunter, though the said girl didn't know she knew about it.

"Well then, are you ready?" Valerie asked.

"I want to see the Lions first!" Lilith declared.

After seeing the lions and many other animals before they finally got to that destination, they left the zoo a few hours later. By that time, it was around lunch time and they were headed to a nice Chinese restaurant. Sam sighed. She had promised Lilith this day a month ago when the girl came stomping into her room saying she was gone too much. Of course with those few words and the tears in the little girl's eyes was enough to break anyone's heart. So today was Lilith's to have and that meant Chinese food for their lunch.

Sam sipped on her water as they waited for their meal to come with a small Lilith swinging her legs on her chair making silly faces and expressions. Valerie laughed.

"She's really something." She stated.

Sam sighed. "I know. She grown so fast it seems. I remember when she was just a little baby. She was so small and I couldn't get over that."

Valerie laughed. "Can't say I know the feeling. I've had no children yet."

Sam said nothing and then looked towards the TV in the restaurant. The news was on and there was a report on a serial rapist.

"_Amity Park officials have reason to believe that a serial rapist has taken root in Amity Park recently. According to record this man is highly dangerous and follows girls from four to twelve years old before injuring or killing their guardians or parents and raping them …"_

Sam ignored the rest of the report as Valerie spoke up.

"That's sick." Valerie said disgusted. "I mean how could anyone do something like that to a child? How could anyone be human and do something like that?"

"People like that are below human." Sam said as her eyes hardened and then softened as she looked at Lilith. "No one with any humanity would do such a thing to any person much less an innocent child."

"Rape is a crime that should be punishable by death." Valerie put in.

"Well, you have to take in the statutory rape situations. Some of the people they put in jail had willing counterparts or were only a year or two appart, but just because of age were arrested." Sam pointed out.

"Yeah, and in this society there's hardly ever a middle ground." Valerie agreed with a sad sigh. She abruptly changed the subject. "So, have you heard from Danny lately?"

"Oh I talk to him at least once a week. He's taken a loving for Atlanta you know. He says it's a big city, but not so big it's crowded like New York. He wants to bring me and Lilith down there one of these days." Sam replied looking down at the plate that had just been brought to her. She looked over at Lilith's children's meal which was still quite large though it was for children. She didn't notice Valerie's smirk as she watch Lilith open her chop sticks and began to eat the rice noodles.

"So he invited you and Lilith only?" she asked.

"Yeah." Sam said as she sighed and looked up at Valerie finally noticing the smirk. "What?"

"Just you, Lilith, and Danny… Interesting…" Valerie smiled.

"What are you-?" Sam started and then frowned. "Valerie! There is nothing between Danny and me. We're just close… friends." Sam said a bit unsure and Valerie raised an eyebrow. "Okay very close friends, but that doesn't mean anything."

"He took you to the prom in senior year." Valerie shot.

"Only because he had no one to ask." Sam defended.

"He had plenty of girls to ask, he just didn't want to take any of them." Valerie replied.

"Still, it doesn't mean anything significant." Sam replied.

"Un- huh," Valerie said rolling her eyes. "

"Lilith misses him though. She asks me all the time when he's coming to visit and I'll admit Danny is the only person she sees as a father figure. Everyone else is uncle." Sam gave Lilith a piercing look that told her to slow down with her eating.

"Really, when he comes back for Thanksgiving or whatever, you need to act on those feeling you say you don't have before one of those girls in Atlanta sweeps him off his feet. It's a big city and I here they're much finer than us girls in the smaller cities."

Sam blushed. Valerie could be as blunt as Aly sometimes. It was as though they didn't even know the definition of shame at times. She continued to enjoy the company of Valerie and the atmosphere of the restaurant. She hadn't been out in weeks, but an after half hour or so later Sam looked down at her watch.

"Oh shoot!" Sam snapped her finger. "I have to go. I really do need to finish this essay tonight. I just want to sleep all day tomorrow." She almost whined.

Valerie rolled her eyes. "You sure the rug rat is going to let you do that?"

Sam sighed. "You have a point. Come on Lilith."

Sam started toward the exit.

"Hey Sam," Valerie called her before she left.

Sam looked back. "Hm?"

"Be careful alright. I worry about you sometimes. You seem so… I don't know. Sometimes you just harden up and distance yourself."

Sam smiled a bit. She knew what that was. No matter what she did, the way Lilith had been conceived always came back to haunt her, like she was sure it would tonight after hearing that news report, which is why she stayed away from watching the local news a lot.

She didn't know though, that later on, her thoughts would mean much more than she anticipated.

-.oOOo.-

That last sentence was ominous wasn't it? So how did you like it? R&R.


	2. Haunted

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any character related to it. I am just a dedicated fan.

DarkDragonQueen: I hate my muses at this particular moment. Plot I and III were neck and neck when it came to the votes so when I had decide which one to use, once again Drama and Angst had to pop up in my head. They kept arguing that the first story didn't have enough of them in it and they would not be satisfied until I made a good story with them in it. It got so bad that they started to send me different way to develop the plot of the third Plot and not the first when I attempted to develop it, so in the end I relented. Plot III won and all because my muses wouldn't leave me alone.

**If you can't handle violence, don't read this chapter. It's not bad, but it's bordering M rated, but it's not. I'e seen much more in a T rated story before. I just wanted to let you know before you read this.**

You know what I'm about to put here so, here's the shortened version. My grammar's not perfect, use of words and spelling make up for that, so don't go tripping about it and so on and so on…

So without further ado I give you the first chapter of the second book of… **_Trial, Transition, Growth._**

**-.oOOo.-**

**Haunted**

**By**

**DarkDragonQueen**

-.oOOo.-

Sam sat in her room late Saturday night trying to finish an essay that was due Monday. She sighed as she threw her pencil down on the desk. Aly had been right. Maybe she should stop college, especially with Lilith, and go do a trade. She could go to cosmetology school and be done in a few months or even something as simple as learning to do nails. There was a lot of money in that kind of thing and it was really flexible so she could spend more time with Lilith. Even learning Real Estate wasn't a bad option.

She got up as she considered this course of action. Of course, she'd be throwing a year of college down the drain, but it wasn't as if she had been at it for three years and was in her last. She could still back out. She didn't even know what she would major in. Her plans had changed once Lilith had been born. No longer did she intend to spend the many years she had planned she would to go to college and become a veterinarian. It wasn't her fault though. She hadn't planned on having a baby so soon, but she never regretted having her little Lilith.

She opened the refrigerator as she tapped her foot looking for something to drink. She took a caffeinated soda. Normally, Sam didn't drink sodas at all, but she kept caffeinated sodas for those occasions where she needed to have a late night. She took a sip and then almost dropped the soda in her hands when she heard what sounded like a window opening.

Her blood ran cold as she silently sat the soda down. She then calmed herself and attempted to think logically. It might have been Lilith. She had a habit of getting up at night to shut her window, but then again, she hadn't heard the loud slam that usually followed, but still… When she heard footsteps, she went to get the wood steel coated baseball bat. She kept one in every room of the house, kitchen included. Danny had teased her once about it, Sam could help to be that way after what had happened to her even though she had been out in the dead of the night.

She silently crept out the kitchen mentally noting that it might be Lilith and not to swing at the first sound she heard, but that thought went out the door when she saw someone trying to hide and take something out their pocket. It wasn't Lilith; that was for sure.

Sam quickly went to the spot behind her television and swung, aiming at the person's head. He, as she now saw it was a man, moved out the way and pulled out a gun. She wasn't about to let him fire it though. She took the back and aimed for the gun, managing to knock it out his hand. She didn't know who he was, or what he wanted, but whatever it was he wouldn't get it without a fight.

"Bitch," he growled and came at her, grabbing the baseball bat as she swung again pulling it out her arms. The unknown attacker grabbed Sam in a headlock attempting to choke her. Sam gripped his arm digging her fingernails in and with strength she didn't know she had flipped him over her back and onto his making him lose his grip on her neck. She went to grab her bat again but he grabbed her feet making her trip and fall down. She flipped onto her back as she attempted to kick his hands off her.

Suddenly, he let go though and went to grab something that Sam realized was the gun. She jumped up and jumped on his back pulling him back into a head lock as he fell backwards and they crashed into a side table where a lamp and two frames pictures sat. The lamp broke and the pictures crack. Had this been any other situation, Sam would have thrown a fit at the expensive marble lamp being broken, but now was not the time for that. She kept her arms around the attacker's neck. Then he grabbed the remains of the broken lamp and hit her upside the head with it make her loosen her grip just enough for him to get out of her grip. Then he hit her with it again making her fall to the ground limp with her head pounding.

She heard him get up and pick up his gun. She lifted her head to see him walking down the hallway of her home towards Lilith's room and then she realized who he was. He was the rapist on the news and he was going after Lilith. He had obviously though he had knocked her out.

With newfound strength and speed Sam picked up the baseball bat and used the head to poke him in the back with it. It didn't hurt him, obviously, this guy was in good shape, but it was enough to get his attention. She briefly remembered what Aly's grandmother had told her about in her neighborhood, when they were attacked, there was only two option; fight or flight. Either you got away, fought trying to escape, or die trying and Sam planned on getting Lilith and getting as far away from here as possible.

He turned around and tried to grab her but she made her way past him trying to get to her daughter's room. He was quick though and turned around grabbing her around her shoulders and pointing the gun to her head.

Realizing that all chances of escape were lost, Sam did the only thing she could do now. She begged.

"No!" she cried as tears came to her eyes. "Please! Don't hurt my baby. Not my little girl! Please!" She choked out.

"Shut up and stop fighting or I'll shoot you." The man growled pulling her close to him.

Sam shook her head as she felt the cold metal from the gun pressed to her temple. "Don't hurt her!" she shouted and she could hear Lilith's voice from the room.

"Mommy," she whispered through the closed door.

"I promise, I let her live. You'll see her tomorrow." He said and Sam could here the sick pleasure in his voice from the thought of what he was planning to do.

"Her body will live, but on the inside you'll kill her!" Sam choked out. "I'd rather me and her die than let you get your hands on her."

He pressed his gun harder. "That first part can be easily arranged."

"Please! Leave her alone. I'll do anything you ask. Just… please." Sam whispered unable to finish.

"You don't have much here, do you?"

Sam realized that he was right. She was barely making ends meet now. A thought came to mind right then, but she pushed it away. There had to be some other way.

The attacker threw her down on the floor standing right in front of Lilith's closed door. Sam was frantic now as the previous thought came to her mind. It would be the only way.

"No, wait!" Sam pleaded as she sat up. The rapist wasn't listening though as he put his hand on the doorknob. "You can have me."

The attacker stopped in his tracks at her words as thoughts of having a fully grown and developed woman enter his mind and Sam couldn't believe she was offering her own body, but it was the only thing she could do now. See he was interested, Sam continued.

"You can have me for the entire night as many times as you want, just leave my daughter alone." The tears she had held fell from her eyes.

"Where's your room?" he smirked with no hesitation.

"Last door on the right." Sam looked away in humiliation. "I'll be right there."

She stood up and went into her daughter's room. Lilith was sitting up under the covers.

"Mommy, who were you talking to?"

"Just a friend who to decided to surprise me with a visit," Sam said hiding her tears from Lilith. "Go back to sleep."

Lilith nodded. "Okay mommy." Sam tucked her back in bed. "Good night mommy."

Sam held back a sob at those words. "Good night Lilith." She walked out the room closing the door and locking it, just in case…

She walked to her room where the rapist was waiting on her and closed the door to face him.

"Well let's get started then." He said and nodded his head.

Sam closed her eyes and tried to turn away but he held her in place. Tears once again began to fall, but this time silently as she slowly undressed herself until she was completely naked. His eyes wandered her body and her hand instinctively went up to cover her breast. He pulled them away and looked at her hungrily. He suddenly grabbed her and kissed her fiercely as he forced her on the bed. He played with her body, fondled and sucked her breast, and even gave her an oral.

Then the time came. He pulled down his pants releasing his manhood. She closed her eyes, but he forced her to open them as he opened her legs. It was going to be a long night.

-.oOOo.-

Not as bad as I though it would be. It was on the very brink of M, but not quite there. R&R.


	3. Haunted II

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any character related to it. I am just a dedicated fan.

DarkDragonQueen: I hate my muses at this particular moment. Plot I and III were neck and neck when it came to the votes so when I had decide which one to use, once again Drama and Angst had to pop up in my head. They kept arguing that the first story didn't have enough of them in it and they would not be satisfied until I made a good story with them in it. It got so bad that they started to send me different way to develop the plot of the third Plot and not the first when I attempted to develop it, so in the end I relented. Plot III won and all because my muses wouldn't leave me alone.

**I hate this chapter. I really don't know why, but I do. Heck, I hate everything I write even when I know it's good. Somethimes I just things can be so much better even when they're already perfect according to my sister. Well I'll let you determine if you like this or not. So I better go. I've only got about fie minutes to post this. My mother is hosting a bridal shower at our home today.**

You know what I'm about to put here so, here's the shortened version. My grammar's not perfect, use of words and spelling make up for that, so don't go tripping about it and so on and so on…

So without further ado I give you the third chapter of the second book of… **_Trial, Transition, Growth._**

**-.oOOo.-**

**Haunted II**

**By**

**DarkDragonQueen**

-.oOOo.-

Sam woke with an ach the next morning as she wondered why she was naked on her bed. The as she looked at the gun next to her head, everything came flooding back to her. The rapist, her giving herself over to him so he could have his way… Then she noticed he wasn't next to her and the gun was still by her head, so he couldn't have left yet. It was early morning, around five thirty, and she remembered he had still been having his way with her after she had passed out around two hours ago. She gasped and grabbed the gun from next to her and leapt off the bed, running out the room.

Like she had suspected, there he was trying to get into Lilith's room, until he turned the knob to find it locked.

"Damn it!" he cursed.

"Were you disappointed with my performance last night?" Sam asked him coldly pointing the gun at him. Inside though, she was hurting and disgusted with herself. She had been forced to give him an oral and participate in the activities he had forced upon her last night and she wanted nothing more than to take a bath in searing hot water and wash herself. She planned on burning the sheets later as well.

Her attacker looked scared as he back away to get away from the gun pointing at him.

"Not so beastly now, are we?" Sam said stepping closer. "Get out!"

The man ran and for some insane reason Sam followed him in her nudeness, even as he ran outside. She stood on the sidewalk just outside her street and fell. He was far away now, but she could still see him. She raised the gun and pulled the trigger three times. Helping Danny chase ghost had its perks. After a moment, he fell down to the ground and with some sick satisfaction, Sam walked back into her home and closed the door.

Sam then fell to the floor right where she was and started to cry. It had happened again. Why did it have to be her again? What had she done that had been so horrible it deserved this punishment? She dropped the gun that was in her hands and curled up into a ball while she cried.

-.oOOo.-

It was Monday now and Sam lay down on the couch staring up at the ceiling. She had just come back from classes and picking Lilith up from daycare. Turns out, she never did finish off her report. Sunday she stayed in bed, much like she was now, with the covers over her staring at the ceiling, only getting up to take care of Lilith's needs. Eventually when Lilith was sleeping that night, she took a searing hot bath and scrubbed herself until she was raw. She felt like she did when she was raped and had Lilith. She felt dirty, tainted, and now insecure.

Once again she wondered what she had done to deserve this. Had been something she had done in the past where one rape wasn't enough to bring about justice. If it was, she was sorry for it and just wanted to be forgiven by whoever it was that had control over the world they were in. She curled up into a ball and hugged her knees to her chest. What if he was pregnant again? Lilith had been a blessing, but how would she deal with two children at once if she was?

Lilith came running out into the living room to her mother's side just as she was pondering that thought.

"Mommy! Can we go to the park before it gets dark?" she asked eagerly.

"Not today Lilith." Sam sighed. "Mommy's had a long day and she's tired."

Lilith frowned disappointed. "Can we go visit Uncle Tucker at his house?"

"I'm tired Lilith and Tucker lives in an apartment." Sam put her hand on her head as she felt a headache about to come on.

"Okay then can we-."

"Lilith, I said no. I'm too tired to do anything. Now go play." Sam snapped sitting up slightly. Lilith looked a bit taken back, but then sighed and went to play in her room.

Sam fell back down feeling slightly guilty about snapping a Lilith that way, but she could think of no other way at the time and it had just slipped out. She slowly sat up and went to the kitchen. She really did want to spend more time with Lilith and take her places, but she was so busy with school and these essays. She sighed. Why did she even bother with college when she didn't have the time nor the will to get through it? She really did need to do something quick, but that would make her enough money to make a living as well. There was real estate and she really could go to art school, but she was really interested in that cosmetology for one reason or another.

She could guess it had started when Lilith's hair started to grow longer and she would see little girls with their cute curls, braids, and even bouncy twist. The curls were easy in her opinion, but when it came to braiding, she had no clue. At the time, she was going on eighteen and being a mother had made her begin to loose her gothic image, so thinking like that wasn't so horrifying.

Sam sat down and put her face in her hands. Maybe trying something new and something she was interested in would take her mind off of what she had gone through Saturday night. She got up and grabbed the phone. It was time to make a few phone calls.

-.oOOo-

"I didn't see you today. I thought something was wrong." Valerie said as she helped Sam clean up after lunch the next day.

Sam nodded. There were two reasons for that. One of which was the chill feeling she had had since Saturday night. Second…

"I dropped out." She confessed and Valerie turned to look at her, though she didn't seem surprised.

"I knew you eventually would." Valerie admitted. "You barely made it through last year." She paused for a moment. "So what are you going to do now? Find a husband?" she smirked.

Sam gave a disapproving glare. "I'm going to get into cosmetology. I start next week."

Valerie now looked surprise. "You… going into cosmetology?"

"Yeah. What's the big deal?"

Valerie shook her head. "Nothing, I just never thought of you as that."

There was a comfortable silence before it was broken by Valerie.

"Did you hear that they found that serial rapist dead not too far from here?" She asked.

Sam's eyes hardened and she fought to keep the coldness out of her voice. "Yeah," she said bitterly. "I heard."

"Someone shot him three times right through the chest. The police didn't find the person, but Amity Park thinks that whoever did it did us a favor and no ones attempting to even help try to find the so called 'murderer'." Valerie rolled her eyes.

Sam shrugged though she had a lot of thoughts on that. That sic (blank, blank) deserved what he got and she sincerely hoped he rotted in hell for eternity. She felt no remorse for him.

"You alright, Sam?" Valerie asked concerned.

Sam sighed. "Rape is just somewhat of a touchy subject for me."

"Why?"

Sam sighed again. No one but, Danny, Jazz, Tucker and Aly knew about this and she knew sooner or later she would have to get this off her chest. Valerie was a close enough friend.

"Can I tell you something almost no one else knows?"

"Yeah sure." Valerie threw the dish cloth down on the counter leaning back against it crossing her arms.

"Don't tell anyone else. It's something I really don't want let out and if I can I'll take it to my grave." Sam closed the dishwasher and sat down at the table.

"What is it?" Valerie asked.

Sam looked back to make sure Lilith wasn't coming. She didn't want her to know about this yet if not ever.

"Lilith is a child of rape." Her eyes became cloudy.

Valerie opened her mouth to speak, but as it turned out she couldn't find any words to say to such a confession. When she finally did regain the ability to speak Sam raised a hand to stop her.

"It's alright. It happened almost five years ago. I'm over it."

"I've got to go then. I'll call you though." Valerie said picking up her purse.

After Valerie left, Sam leaned against the door. Her last statement had been a lie. A lie that, little did she know, would effect her for the next few months.

-.oOOo-.

Hope you liked it. This one leads into the next which leads into our real story. R&R.


	4. Have Some Fun

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any character related to it. I am just a dedicated fan.

DarkDragonQueen: I hate my muses at this particular moment. Plot I and III were neck and neck when it came to the votes so when I had decide which one to use, once again Drama and Angst had to pop up in my head. They kept arguing that the first story didn't have enough of them in it and they would not be satisfied until I made a good story with them in it. It got so bad that they started to send me different way to develop the plot of the third Plot and not the first when I attempted to develop it, so in the end I relented. Plot III won and all because my muses wouldn't leave me alone.

**I am so sorry about the lateness of this. We went to a wedding the first Saturday and I didn't let you know because I thought we wuld be back in time and the next Saturday, was tripping again so I couldn't upload the document. Sorry! Here's your next chapter.**

You know what I'm about to put here so, here's the shortened version. My grammar's not perfect, use of words and spelling make up for that, so don't go tripping about it and so on and so on…

So without further ado I give you the first chapter of the second book of… _**Trial, Transition, Growth.**_

**-.oOOo.-**

**Have Some Fun**

**By**

**DarkDragonQueen**

-.oOOo.-

Sam held Lilith by the hand as she knocked on the door of the Fenton home. There was only a moment before a red headed twenty- two year old opened the door with her head looking in a book. She looked up.

"Oh! Hey Sam, Hey-."

"Jazz!" Lilith said grabbing the oldest of the Fenton children around the legs. "Can you take me somewhere today?"

"Lilith!" Sam looked down at the girl disapprovingly.

"Where do you want to go?" Jazz said briefly smiling at Sam before looking back down.

"I want to go to the toy store." Lilith declared.

"The big new one that just opened?" Jazz asked and the dark strawberry- blonde haired girl bobbed her head frantically up and down. "Okay, we'll leave after lunch."

Lilith ran past Jazz and they could hear her run into the kitchen and down the stairs that led to the basement.

"Don't spoil her too bad." Sam relented. "You don't want your whole paycheck to be gone before you've had the chance to use some for yourself."

"Don't worry about that. I hardly ever get to see Lilith when I'm not here so I really can't help spending my entire pay heck on her when I do see her. Besides, who can resist that cute little face?" Jazz sighed in an almost dreamy state.

"I'll be back for her around five. Hopefully we won't have to look for her in the ghost zone this time." Sam glared and Jazz rolled her eyes.

It had been a mistake on Tucker, Danny, and Jazz's part. They had left a Three and a half year old Lilith down in the basement for only a split second after taking care of a quick ghost and when they came back, she was gone. Sam came back and they told her they suspected the little girl had gone through the portal. Sam had nearly blown the house down when she heard. They ended up taking the Spectra Speeder and after taking on a few unnecessary ghost found the girl… giggling as she played with Ember's flame hair. Turned out Ember had found the kid, as she put it, wondering the ghost zone about to be Skulker's new prey. Somehow, she had known who Lilith was and that her mother was a friend of the 'dipstick'. Her excuse for taking her was that she really didn't feel like getting her butt kicked by the halfa for letting his best friend's daughter get hurt, though Sam had the sneaking suspicion that Ember had a liking for the girl.

Sam took Lilith home and wouldn't let Lilith step foot in the Fenton home for a month after that. Now, the Fenton Family was careful to close the portal when they knew the little girl was coming, but she always brought it up every now and then as a little reminder.

"Don't worry. I closed it as soon as I got up this morning. She won't find her way in there," Jazz said dryly and she heard something crash in the basement.

"Oops!" They could hear Lilith say loudly.

"Maybe I should-."

"Don't worry about it. You don't want to be late." Jazz sighed. "I'll go see what happened."

-.oOOo.-

A few days later found Sam once again on her way to her car before going to the Fenton household. She was actually early. Cosmetology wasn't so hard. Compared to college, this school was easy. Come here everyday and soon she'd have a license to work as a hair stylist and do nails. The only thing about this school was…

"Hey Sam!!" Someone shouted behind her.

She cringed and turned around to face a blonde haired, tanned, girl who she had seen a couple of time and had been trying to talk to her since she had gotten here. Behind was another with brown hair and dark skin that Sam considered a very extreme form of her god- sister and the other girl next to her was an Asian, ebony haired girl with thick makeup on who looked as though she was trying to pull of the Goth look.

Sam reluctantly made her way over to the trio. "Look I really need to be-."

"We were going to hang out at the mall, maybe get something to eat. Wanna join us?" she asked in a careless tone.

"I really should be going. I have to go get my dau-." Sam was cut off by the girl again.

"Come on. I'm sure whatever it is can wait." The one who reminded her of Aly said.

Sam tossed the idea in her head. She did have time- a little over an hour actually- and a trip to the mall wouldn't hurt. She shrugged.

"Yeah, sure. I'll go get my car."

"You have a car?" the dark skinned girl asked. "Mind if we hitched a ride? Ours is in the auto shop. I can't believe my stupid brother didn't change the oil when I asked him to." She muttered to herself.

"O-kay…" Sam said a bit warily. Why were these girls all of a sudden trying to befriend her?

"Oh sorry." The blonde sighed. "I'm Cookie, this is Latasha," she pointed to the dark skinned girl and then at last the Asian girl. "And this is Ayame,"

"Nice to meet you." Sam said slowly as the three girls followed her to her car.

This was a very odd situation to her and it had her a bit wary of their motives. She could never be too careful. Once a ghost had tried to befriend her so she could get close to Danny…The reasons for it was something Sam didn't even want to think about, but until she knew she could trust these girls (If she let them stick around long enough), she had to be on high alert.

An hour later though, this wasn't on her mind as she laughed at a story Latasha was telling. They were a bit outgoing, like Aly, but they weren't half bad. Cookie was a down to earth, yet at the same time up in the clouds girl and despite seeming a bit preppy was very blunt when it came to some subject. Latasha was just an exaggerated form of Aly, and Ayame was a sheltered girl who was rebelling against her parents, though she was very disciplined.

Sam looked down when her cell phone rang and answered it.

"Yes,"

"_Sam, where are you?" A worried Jazz asked over the line._

Sam gasped. "I was to come get Lilith by now!"

"_No duh," was Jazz's response. "Where are you?"_

"At the mall with some new friends. I'll be there as soon as I can." Sam said about to get up.

"_Relax Sam, I'll keep her longer if you want. She wanted me to take her to the park anyway."_

"Would you?"

"_Of course. Besides, you need to get out. You've been a bit withdrawn lately. Have some fun?" there was a loudly thud in the background. "I better go see what your daughter did. Bye,"_

"Bye Jazz." Sam hung up her phone

"Who was that?" Latasha asked

"That was Jazz. She's a friend of mine." Sam added.

"What did she want?" Ayame asked.

"I was supposed to pick up Lilith a few minutes ago and she offered to watch her a little longer." Sam explained simply.

"Who's Lilith, your little sister?" Cookie asked.

Sam blinked. "Oh, no." she shook her head. "Lilith's my four year old daughter."

Cookie threw her head back. "No wonder you're so uptight. You need to loosen up and have some fun for one."

"Hey, I know." Latasha snapped her fingers. "I'm having a party this weekend. It's on Saturday night. You should come. Loosen up a bit."

Sam tensed… Ever since she had been raped, she was wary of parties and anything of the nature. Parties were a breeding ground for that type of situation and knowing that these girls were at least eighteen to twenty- one there was bound to be some type of alcoholic beverages. Then again…

"Come on. You need to loosen up a bit. We'll party hard and maybe even-." Latasha was cut off by Ayame who punched her lightly on the arm.

"I don't know. I would have to find someone to watch Lilith and-."

"I'm sure you could manage it." Cookie said. "I mean the party's in two days. That's enough time."

"Well," Sam searched for an excuse. "I have nothing to wear."

"That's nothing. Come to my house early and I'll let you wear something of mine. It might fit a little tug on you, but it will be fine."

Sam sighed seeing no way out of the situation. "Alright." She agreed reluctantly as she set her mind to go to the party Saturday night.

It was just one party. How much could it hurt?

-.oOOo.-

R&R


	5. The Party

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any character related to it. I am just a dedicated fan.

DarkDragonQueen: I hate my muses at this particular moment. Plot I and III were neck and neck when it came to the votes so when I had decide which one to use, once again Drama and Angst had to pop up in my head. They kept arguing that the first story didn't have enough of them in it and they would not be satisfied until I made a good story with them in it. It got so bad that they started to send me different way to develop the plot of the third Plot and not the first when I attempted to develop it, so in the end I relented. Plot III won and all because my muses wouldn't leave me alone.

**You know what? I was doing homework and I began to think about how to finish off this series when I look at the date on my paper and realize I missed an update. I was so tired when I came back home Saturday I forgot. Damn it. Alright though, her it is.**

You know what I'm about to put here so, here's the shortened version. My grammar's not perfect, use of words and spelling make up for that, so don't go tripping about it and so on and so on…

So without further ado I give you the first chapter of the second book of… _**Trial, Transition, Growth.**_

**-.oOOo.-**

**The Party**

**By**

**DarkDragonQueen**

-.oOOo.-

Sam looked around in confusion as she wondered what she should do. She honestly had no clue why she had agreed to go to the party she was currently at, but she had given her word to Latasha that she would be there. Someone bumped into her from behind and she turned around to look into the face of a man around three or four years older than she was.

"Hey babe!" he whistled at her. "You're cute. Want to spend some time together."

Sam froze at that statement as a flash from exactly two weeks ago came to her head. She shivered and walked past going to the table that was set up to look like a bar table at the back wall of the house.

"No need to be rude!" he yelled at her retreating back.

Sam finally got to the bar a few minutes later, and that was after she had slapped someone for patting her on the butt. She was going to kill Latasha for convincing her to wear this outfit.

_/Flashback/_

_Sam rang the doorbell to the fairly large house. It was almost as large as the home she used to live in with her parents before they disowned her. The door swung open to reveal Latasha clad in a blue knee skirt and a white blouse that was half open. The outfit was simply but it was the jewelry and accessories that made her look extravagant. Sam didn't even have that much jewelry in her jewelry box._

"_Oh, hey Sam. I was starting think you might not show up." Latasha stepped aside to let her in._

_Sam stepped into the house and Latasha immediately closed the door and ran up the stairs with Sam on her tail._

_Latasha led Sam to her large and well furnished room where Cookie and Ayame were. Cookie was looking though Latasha's closet while Ayame was sitting on the bed listening to a CD on her CD player. They both looked up when Sam walked in the room._

"_Hey Sam," Ayame waved._

"_Girl, we thought you wouldn't show up." Cookie said pulling out an outfit a putting it in front of her as she looked in the mirror. "Can I borrow this?"_

_Latasha walked over and snatched the outfit. "We have to find Sam something to here first and then you can raid your closet and borrow anything that I didn't buy in the last month."_

_Sam yelped as Latasha suddenly dragged her to her closet. "Pick whatever you like."_

_Sam looked in the closet for a while. It didn't take much to satisfy her when it came to clothing. She dressed nicely that was for sure, but she didn't have to go shopping for something new every month. She pulled out a simply pair of dark blue jeans and a cute top._

"_Girl, this is a party!" Latasha exclaimed. "Not an outing in the park, pick something else."_

_Sam put it back and chose another simple outfit._

"_Okay, that was worse than the last." Cookie shook her head and Ayame got up and went to the closet. When she turned around she had in her hands a black leather outfit. It was black leather pants and a jacket top where the zipper started above her navel, she assumed, and zipped right up to the beginning of her chest. _

"_I haven't even worn that yet!" Latasha cried out as she snatched to outfit._

"_Let her borrow it 'Tasha, she needs something to wear." Cookie pleaded._

"_Fine whatever." Latasha grumbled and gave up the outfit._

_When the three girls were through with the woman that was Sam, it would have made to the most sissy of men go straight again. The pants legs flared at the bottom and hugged her thighs and buttocks and the jacket was tight around her cleavage. Her hair had been cut in the front so that it cupped her face and in the back in hung down her back. Black lipstick (to Sam's dismay since she stopped wearing make- up after she had Lilith) and black nail polish was the finishing touch._

"_Girl, you look better in that outfit than I did when I tried it on." Latasha snapped her fingers._

"_I look like a prostitute." Sam frowned._

"_You look fine!" Cookie emphasized. "Now come on. People are going to be coming soon and we have to finish getting ready."_

_/End Flashback/_

Sam sat down and crossed her arms as she looked at the alcohol free punch she had in her hand, when Latasha came over.

"I though you said this was going to be a small party!" Sam yelled over the loud music.

Latasha shrugged as a boy came over and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Well, when you have a house this big, how much smaller can a party get? It wasn't as bad as my other party though."

"Do I really want to know?"

"Let's just say that this time people are going upstairs to do their business and not where ever they happen to fall." Latasha laughed as the boy started to sway and dance with her. "Have a little fun. Talk to people."

Latasha was led away by the boy into the crowd leaving Sam by herself at the bar. She sighed and stared out into space. Maybe she should just leave and go home. Lilith was staying the night with Jazz so she would have a little time to herself.

She picked up her drink next to her only to touch someone else's hand. Sam looked to the side and then blushed and took her hand away.

"Sorry," she looked away. "Wrong drink,"

"That's alright." He said and although she didn't want to be here, she admitted he was handsome. "You alright?"

"I fine. I'm just not really enjoying myself. That's all." Sam smiled lightly.

"Why not?" he asked moving a piece of his dark brown bang out his face.

"I really didn't want to come here." Sam admitted.

"Why? It seems like a pretty young woman like you would like something like this." He smiled gently and Sam knew he only wanted to do one thing. He was trying to get her to trust him. Well, she didn't even plan on letting that go that far.

Sam talked to him for a while and even laughed a few times. Maybe he wasn't like other men she had recently and in the past come in contact with. He seemed nice. She got up to go to the other bar to get something to drink because it tasted like the one she was drinking out of had been spiked.

"I'll be back." She said as she made her way through the crowd, but was stopped by a drunken older boy grabbing her arm.

"Hey suga'. Want to go upstairs?" he asked.

"No thanks." Sam's heart began to race. She had to calm down. This wasn't even that type of situation.

"Oh come on." He said. "Why are you scared?"

Tears came to Sam's eyes as memories of the past came back to haunt her. "Let me go." She choked out.

"Hey!" the brown haired guy she had been talking to turned the boy around. "Leave her alone."

The drunken boy backed off. "Alright, alright,"

"Hey you alright?" Her guy friend asked smoothly.

Sam wiped her eyes, but the tears kept coming. "No," she choked out and let the tears flow freely down her cheeks. "I should leave."

He took her into his arms and let her cry and though Sam knew in her mind that he was trying to take advantage of her time of weakness, she didn't care anymore. She lifted her head and he put his head down to her and let his lips brush against hers. Sam knew that this wasn't right and that she should stop, but she somehow found comfort and security in this.

Somehow, she had gotten upstairs with him in a room in the end only breaking apart to go up the stairs. He unzipped the top- like jacket and it fell off her shoulders and onto the floor to expose her breast. He pushed her on the bed and continued to kiss her and remove her clothing until she was naked and so was he.

Sam consciously knew exactly where this was going and knew what she was about to let him do, but now she didn't even care. She needed this comfort. She needed security. She wanted to feel loved and this seemed to be the only way to get it.

-.oOOo.-

And there's the beginning of our plot. Did you like it? R&R.


	6. Aftermath

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any character related to it. I am just a dedicated fan.

DarkDragonQueen: I hate my muses at this particular moment. Plot I and III were neck and neck when it came to the votes so when I had decide which one to use, once again Drama and Angst had to pop up in my head. They kept arguing that the first story didn't have enough of them in it and they would not be satisfied until I made a good story with them in it. It got so bad that they started to send me different way to develop the plot of the third Plot and not the first when I attempted to develop it, so in the end I relented. Plot III won and all because my muses wouldn't leave me alone.

**Don't even ask me where this came from. I was actually listening to a song called **_**If I Ain't Got You **_**by**_** Alicia Keys, **_**so you can blame that song for those little parts that go nice with the song. If you have the CD go ahead an play the song.**

**Yesterday was my birthday by the way, so now I'm sixteen. And finally after asking for four years, I'm getting a cat. YAY! Okay that's all the announcements. On with the story.**

You know what I'm about to put here so, here's the shortened version. My grammar's not perfect, use of words and spelling make up for that, so don't go tripping about it and so on and so on…

So without further ado I give you the sixth chapter of the second book of… _**Trial, Transition, Growth.**_

**-.oOOo.-**

**Aftermath**

**By**

**DarkDragonQueen**

-.oOOo.-

Sam awakened in a place unfamiliar to her. She sat up and rubbed her head, letting the blanket fall off her chest. It was then that Sam realized she was naked and in a bed, but no one was next to her. She sat or a moment before everything came rushing back to her. She remembered the party and then when she had gone upstairs with… with… She cursed herself for not even knowing his name. Sam slid out the bed assuming that he had left sometime earlier. She found her clothing and put them back on. Sam's thoughts flowed back to the previous night. She knew she shouldn't have done what she did, but at the moment had felt so good and right. She sighed as she climbed down the stairs to find the four girls she had befriended knocked out in random places.

Sam stepped through all the trash and bottles on the floor as she moved toward the door. Turns out, Latasha was actually awake.

"Sam, is that you?" She asked sitting up slightly.

Sam reluctantly turned around and nodded her head.

"Oh… Man it's a mess in here!" Latasha stood up. "I really need to clean up in here." She then fell back down. "On second thought, I'll call someone later."

Sam sighed. "I would stay to help, but I really need to go and pick up Lilith. I'm supposed to get her at noon."

Latasha looked at the clock. "Well, you've got time. It's only nine o' clock."

"I have some things to do before I pick up Lilith actually." Sam looked at two people she didn't know tangled together in the corner. She averted her gaze to the front door.

"Okay, I'll see you Monday. You can keep the outfit if you want." Latasha waved her hand as Sam started towards the door.

"Thanks." Sam waved back and left the house.

Ten minutes later found Sam sitting down on the couch in her own home. She really hadn't wanted to bail out on Latasha like that, but she really needed some time to think to herself before she brought back Lilith. She sighed.

What was happening to her? She didn't know what had come over her last night. She had just given herself over to that guy last night. At that moment, the phone rang and Sam slowly got up.

"Yes," she answered.

"Sam, you alright?" Came the familiar voice she loved so much.

Sam perked up in an instant and began to twist the cord of the phone around her finger.

"Danny!"

Danny laughed on the other end. "Yes it's me. So what's going on?"

"Nothing much really, except me dropping out of college." Sam laughed at Danny's next response.

"You did what?" Danny exclaimed.

Sam laughed. "Having a four year old daughter to take care of and going to college is hard work. I can't dedicate three more years to that."

"Sam-."

"Danny, I'm going to cosmetology school. Quick fast and simple." Sam described in a serious ton.

This time Danny was laughing. "You in cosmetology. You're kidding right."

"Danny!" Sam sat up. "I'm not joking. This is serious."

"Sorry," Danny kept laughing. "But you in cosmetology school is like someone like Tucker going to become an English teacher."

"It is not!" Sam said defiantly.

"Yeah Miss getting your hair done every week so you go about with fancy clothes so some guy will stare at you only to mess it up when you take him to your room is a waste of time." Danny mocked.

Sam frowned. "Well that was before I started having to do Lilith's hair."

"I've got one for that too." Danny cleared his throat. "Why do mothers waste their time doing their daughter's hair? It's like there's some competition going on to see who has the cutest child because the way they style their hair." Danny laughed again. "And that was while you were putting bows and ribbons in Lily's hair. Hypocrite!"

Sam crossed her arms. "Don't call her Lily. Her name is Lilith."

"Lilith likes when I call her Lily." Danny protested.

"I don't." Sam could just picture Danny rolling his eyes on the other end.

"Anyway, I'm coming for Thanksgiving next month. You'll be there, right?" Danny asked.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Sam laughed. "I'll see you then."

"I could imagine." Danny commented. "Where were you last night? I tried to call you then and I couldn't get you at home or you cell phone."

Sam froze. "I… I was with some friends and turned off my cell phone. Lilith was with Jazz."

That had bee a complete lie, but Danny accepted it. In reality she probably hadn't heard her cell phone over the music or during her other activities…

"Oh, so you met some new people at the school?"

"Yeah, I did." Sam smiled sadly. She missed Danny.

"Well I have to go. I'm in big trouble if I don't finish this research paper in time. Later Sam."

"You too Danny," Sam sighed and hung up the phone.

Sam sighed. Being away from Danny was depressing her. She remembered two years back when he had first left. They were at the airport and she didn't know how long she and Danny's good- bye was, but she remembered it as one of the most depressing moments of her life.

_/Flashback/_

_Sam stood in front of Danny at the airport. Lilith sat on her hip not wanting to be put down on the floor. _

"_We'll miss you Danny." Sam blushed not aware that the Fentons, Tucker, and Valerie were watching this interested as though it were a movie though could not hear what the two were saying._

"_Yeah, I know. I'll miss you too." Danny didn't notice he had only addressed Sam in that statement._

"_Yeah," Sam sighed and looked down._

_Anyone standing by would have thought they were lovers about to be separated._

_Danny put his finger on her chin and put her head up. "Cheer up Sam. You and Lily will be fine without me for a while."_

"_I know that, but still…"_

"_Relax you." Danny said softly. "I'll always be there for you. Even from afar, I'll always be your knight in shining armor."_

_Sam blushed. "I don't need a knight. I can slay my own dragon."_

_Danny laughed. "Well look on the plus side, without the knight to challenge, the dragons, witches, ghost and other things of myth won't be here much."_

"_Ghost?" Sam asked. "I'm not afraid of ghost." Sam whispered. They were so close now and then…_

_Danny's flight was announced over the speakers and they jumped apart and looked away. Behind then, they didn't notice Valeria swear and snap her fingers, Tucker cussing out the speakers, and Jazz drop her head and then look up speaking to some invisible force._

"_I guess you better get going." Sam said softly._

"_Yeah, I better."_

_/End Flashback/_

Sam sighed as she got up. She was really depressing herself. She needed to get her mind off of Danny and last night had been a good way to do it whether it was wrong or not. It also brought her the comfort and security she wanted from her 'knight'.

"Let's face it Danny," She sighed again. "You're my knight when you're here, but what can you do to protect and comfort me when you're not here?"

-.oOOo.-

R&R.


	7. Thanksgiving

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any character related to it. I am just a dedicated fan.

DarkDragonQueen: I hate my muses at this particular moment. Plot I and III were neck and neck when it came to the votes so when I had decide which one to use, once again Drama and Angst had to pop up in my head. They kept arguing that the first story didn't have enough of them in it and they would not be satisfied until I made a good story with them in it. It got so bad that they started to send me different way to develop the plot of the third Plot and not the first when I attempted to develop it, so in the end I relented. Plot III won and all because my muses wouldn't leave me alone.

You know what I'm about to put here so, here's the shortened version. My grammar's not perfect, use of words and spelling make up for that, so don't go tripping about it and so on and so on…

So without further ado I give you the first chapter of the second book of… _**Trial, Transition, Growth.**_

**-.oOOo.-**

**Thanksgiving**

**By**

**DarkDragonQueen**

-.oOOo.-

For the next almost two months, Sam's life was nothing but school, party, and sex. It made her feel wanted, secure and it comforted her. She slept with quite a few men in the last month. Some even followed her home or visited her for another go. Those were the times she sent Lilith to bed closed her door and had her own fun. Tonight was no different, except for the fact that she had to be careful. Danny was coming for Thanksgiving break the next day, which was Sunday. It was whole week they had to spend with Danny and she knew she had to be careful or he would notice the difference in her behavior.

The night went by and she kicked the man she was with out earlier than she had originally expected to. It was early Sunday morning and she was looking at the bruises on her wrist and the scar from the knife he had bought across her side.

The (insert an obscene insulting name here) had tried to get her to give him an oral. She told him no and the (repeat the actions done before) tried to rape her. She grabbed her lamp and knocked him in the head with it. He took out a knife and as she maneuvered to try and open the draw to her nightstand, he put a deep cut in her side. By that time though, Sam had gotten to the gun she had been trying to grab and had it pointed at his head with him on top of her. He changed his mind real quick about her real quick, pulled up his pants and almost ran out the house.

Sam was glad she had kept that gun, if she hadn't who knows what might have happened.

"Shit," she said when she couldn't get the gash to stop bleeding long enough to put the bandage on. She had to get this done quick. She was supposed to be at the Fenton's with Lilith in an hour. The plane that brought Danny was too early for herself and Lilith for her to go with them to pick him up, but she promised to be at the house by noon.

In the end, she bandaged the cut and hoped the bleeding wouldn't come through while she was at the house.

"Okay Lilith!" She yelled as she came out the bathroom. "Time to go."

Lilith literally ran to the door and then rushed out the house when her mother opened to door. Sam laughed as they got n the car and on the way to the Fenton house. Lilith was giddy with excitement as she eagerly mentioned how she couldn't wait to see Danny. Ten minutes later Lilith was running out the car before Sam could even turn off the car.

Sam got in step with the little girl just as se rang the doorbell. Turns out it was Aly who opened the door. Her god- sister had made it a tradition to spend Thanksgiving with them every year.

"How did you get here before I did?" Sam asked as Lilith hugged her aunt and then made a beeline for the living room.

Aly laughed. "I have my way oh sister of mine."

Sam laughed as she made her way into the living room in time to see Lilith jump on Danny and grab him in a hug.

"DANNY!" she yelled as the said person stood up and twirled her around.

"Hey Lily." Danny looked at the said girl.

"What did you bring me Danny?" Lilith asked eagerly with her arms around Danny's neck.

"It's a surprise." Danny laughed.

"Aww, where is it?" Lilith pouted.

"First tell me where your mother is." Danny responded.

Lilith pointed behind Danny. "She's right behind, now where are the presents?"

Danny laughed. "You have a one tracked mind, don't you Lily?" and Lilith nodded though she had no idea what Danny meant. "It's upstairs in your mother's old room."

Lilith sped up the stairs and disappeared while Danny turned around and for the first time in a few months, violet eyes met blue.

Sam blushed and looked down. "Hey Danny."

Danny came over to her and put her head up. "Don't act like you're suddenly shy around me because I've been gone so long. Come here." Danny said and Sam grabbed him in a tight hug.

"So, anymore unexpected surprises for me?" Danny asked with his arm around her shoulders.

Sam laughed a laugh she only laughed when she was around Danny. "No, not this time. Nothing new is happening."

Nothing she was sure of anyway, Sam added to herself. She hadn't really been feeling well lately and she had the sneaking suspicion she knew what it was. Instead she removed her mind from her own problems. Danny was back, even if it was only temporary.

"Mommy!" Lilith exclaimed from upstairs as she came thundering down the stairs. "Look what Danny got me!"

Sam looked down. "What?"

Lilith held up her gift and Sam's mouth dropped open in shock and the small black kitten, Lilith was holding up for her to see.

"You brought her a kitten?" she asked.

"Actually. I adopted it for her. I saw it in a shelter and this summer Lilith had been talking about how much she wanted one, so when I saw I had to get it." Danny rubbed the back of his neck.

"Danny!" Sam looked at him. "You and Jazz are going to spoil my daughter rotten. Besides, we don't have anything to take care of a cat!"

"Oh, all that stuff is in the car. I just didn't feel like lugging it out." Danny shrugged and Sam looked at him in disbelief.

"Mommy, can I keep it. Please! Pretty, pretty please!" Lilith jumped up and down with the kitten curled up in her arms.

Sam glared at Danny and then sighed. Danny had bought everything for it and they had the room so there was no reason for her to say no. "Alright, you can keep it."

Lilith gave a yelp of joy and dropped the kitten, which landed on it's feet, and hugged Sam around the legs.

"Thank you mommy." She said and looked at the kitten that was standing next to her. "Ooo, what do I name it?" she said as she wandered back upstairs and started saying random names to herself.

"When she asks for a cell phone before she's ten, I'm sending her to you and Jazz." Sam glared at Danny.

-.oOOo.-

The next two days passed without incident. Sam was over the Fenton house or somewhere with Danny, Tucker, and Aly. They were having a good time just acting like and remembering how it was when they were only teenagers and their greatest worries were a few ghost and what Sam's next mood would be when she had been pregnant and a little after she had Lilith.

Today Lilith was with them clutching the black kitten in her arms still trying to figure out what to name it.

"I was not that bad!" Sam denied all the while laughing with the group.

"Yes you were. Remember when you were about eight months pregnant and you tried to kill me for eating you last pot- pie." Danny teased. "You made me fly to the store and back to get you one."

Sam glared trying not to laugh. "I did not! I asked you nicely."

"Yeah right," Tucker rolled his eyes. "Danny," he mocked making his voice go up an octave or two. "You can fly. Go get me one now." Tucker stomped his foot and crossed his arms.

"You're-." Sam started but Lilith cut her off.

"Danny, you can fly!" she asked amazed.

The adults looked at each other. "It was a figure of speech Lilith." Aly said quickly.

Lilith, being four years old, bought the excuse and went back to what she was doing.

"Okay, no more stories that have the words, Danny fly, go ghost, or ghost zone." Tucker declared.

"I'm surprised a little girl as smart as her didn't figure it out yet." Aly replied.

"Actually, she has." Sam said. "She just doesn't realize it yet."

"What do you mean?" Tucker asked.

"She doesn't make any distinction between Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom. They sound the same to her, but she doesn't really say anything about it and when Danny came over my house one night in his ghost form, Lilith walked right in the room and climbed on his lap with a simple, 'Hey Danny,' and fell right asleep in his arms."

Tucker and Aly stopped to look at her.

"What?" Sam stopped.

"What was he," Aly pointed to Danny. "- doing in your room at night?"

Sam blushed at the suggestive tone in the question. "It was nothing of the sort. Get you head out of the gutter you two!"

"Yeah, whatever you two say?" Tucker grinned at Danny who was a nice shade of red.

All the playing stopped though when Danny gasped and a blue mist came out her mouth.

"Oh man," Danny swore. "Come on!" Danny was about to go ghost until Sam stopped him. "What-?" Sam pointed to Lilith. "Oh," Danny hung back as they continued to walk and then took off.

"Okay, where is he?" the deep mechanical voice of Skulker asked as he flew in front of them. "According to my sensors he was just here and still is."

"Wow, who's he?" Lilith asked looking up from her kitten. Her question was never answered though for a blast of green ectoplasm had hit Skulker.

"Alright, what do you want Skulker?" Danny asked in front of him.

"So I was right." Skulker declared. "My pray has returned." Large guns came out of his shoulders. "You'll make a much better throw rug than you would have made six years ago."

"You still want my pelt?" Danny asked dryly and then moved when the guns shot a sticky green substance. Instead it hit a nearby tree shocking it so that it burnt.

"Like my new toys?" Skulker asked grinning at Danny.

"Okay, I don't want to get hit with that. Make a note of that." Danny said rising in the air and charging for Skulker.

"Come on Lilith," Sam pulled on the girl's hand.

"But, Mommy Danny needs help." Lilith pointed out and Sam turned to look at the scene. Danny was in a hand to hand combat with Skulker and was struggling.

"Man, I can not be this out of shape." Danny said through gritted teeth.

"You go hide over there Lilith. Mommy will help Danny." Sam said taking a new version of the Fentons' ecto- guns out her purse. It was more powerful than the original gun and had more fire power.

Sam took aim and fired hitting her intended target but stumbling back in the process and falling into a tree. In the time it took her to get up, Danny had already captured Skulker in the Fenton Thermos and was on his was to help her, but then he stopped.

"What happened?" Danny asked forgetting that Lilith was there and transformed into his human self.

Sam looked down and said a string of curse words under her breath. Obviously, Danny had heard her because he raised an eyebrow. She blushed and looked down at the deep cut that had reopened on her side.

"It must have happened when I hit the tree." Sam pulled out a light jacket she had brought from home and wrapped it around her waist tightly to stop the bleeding. "I'll deal with it when I get home." _And kill that_ _(insert an obscene insulting name here) later,_ she added as a thought in her head.

"Maybe we should get my mother to look at it. It looks pretty bad." Danny said tilting his head a bit and then taking out his cell phone. "I'll call her tell her-."

"NO!" Sam exclaimed startling Danny, and also, Tucker and Aly who had come back with Lilith. "I mean, really, it's not worth the trouble. It'll heal eventually."

"Okay," The group seemed to buy it, but Lilith, though she was only four years old, was looking at her mother with a disapproving look that went unnoticed by Sam.

-.oOOo.-

R&R.


	8. Innocence of a Child

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any character related to it. I am just a dedicated fan.

DarkDragonQueen: I hate my muses at this particular moment. Plot I and III were neck and neck when it came to the votes so when I had decide which one to use, once again Drama and Angst had to pop up in my head. They kept arguing that the first story didn't have enough of them in it and they would not be satisfied until I made a good story with them in it. It got so bad that they started to send me different way to develop the plot of the third Plot and not the first when I attempted to develop it, so in the end I relented. Plot III won and all because my muses wouldn't leave me alone.

You know what I'm about to put here so, here's the shortened version. My grammar's not perfect, use of words and spelling make up for that, so don't go tripping about it and so on and so on…

So without further ado I give you the first chapter of the second book of… _**Trial, Transition, Growth.**_

**-.oOOo.-**

**The Innocence of a Child**

**By**

**DarkDragonQueen**

-.oOOo.-

Lilith may have been four years old, but she by no means stupid. Even a child knew what it was to hurt someone and she had seen some mean big boys that her mother had told her were a few friends try and hurt her mother. She didn't know why her mother would let someone hurt her like that or maybe she didn't know they were hurting her, but if they were didn't she feel bad? Lilith decided in her own mind that her mother did feel bad, because she would sometimes cry at night when she thought the girl was sleep. She also didn't understand why her mother was tucking her in less often.

Her mother always told her that if someone was being hurt and wanted to keep it secret to tell it even if the person would be upset. But Lilith didn't want her mommy to be mad at her! Lilith frowned as she played with her dolls. She shook her head. She didn't want mommy to be hurt anymore, so she would tell, but there was a problem. Who would she tell? When someone did something bad she always told her mommy what they did, but now she had to tell on her mommy. Who would she go to?

She tried telling Jazz, but she wasn't right. Jazz wouldn't help mommy. She would fuss at her and mommy wouldn't listen, just like mommy would fuss at her for jumping on the bed and she wouldn't listen. Aunt Valerie maybe, but Aunt Valerie could get really mean sometimes. Maybe she could tell her mommy's new friends, who had become her new aunts, but she didn't know them well enough.

In the end, Lilith gave up. Maybe mommy would stop letting the bad boys hurt mommy, but she didn't. So when she found out Danny was coming, she was more excited than ever. Now she could tell Danny, but what if mommy got mad at her!? She was going to tell him when he first came, but she couldn't get him alone. He was always talking to everyone else and then of course he had gotten her the kitten which she finally decided after two days to name, Phantom, but now she had to get back to what she wanted to do.

It was Thanksgiving Day and all the big girls were in the kitchen cooking while, Jack was in the basement staying out the way, and Danny and Tucker were upstairs in Danny's old room. Now all she had to do was get rid of Uncle Tucker.

Lilith slinked into the room with Phantom in her arms and went to the window. Danny and Tucker seemed not to mind her, which was perfect in her opinion. She stared at out the window looking at the garbage truck outside… Perfect!

"Ooo, it's the garbage truck!" Lilith pointed out pretending to be excited. Danny and Tucker glanced at her before continuing whatever they were doing. "Hey Uncle Tucker?"

"Yeah Lilith," Tucker said absently.

"Is that your mini laptop," She couldn't remember what letters the little thing used as a name. "… in the garbage can that they're dumping?"

"Yeah whatever," Tucker said not registering what was said. Lilith sat down in the chair next to the window and started to count in her head. One, two… "What?" Tucker yelled and made for a beeline out the down the stairs and out the door.

Lilith grinned. She'd have Tucker running all over town for that thing. She dropped Phantom on the floor as Danny sat on his bed.

"Hey Lily, what's up?" Danny asked as Lilith looked at him closely.

"Hey Danny," Lilith looked down suddenly finding this harder than he expected.

"What's wrong purple flower?" Danny asked with concern when Lilith looked down.

Lilith sighed dramatically suddenly very unsure of herself. "Can I asked you something?"

"Yeah sure?" Danny patted his lap and Lilith eager walked up to him and let him lift her up.

Lilith swung her legs a bit and leaned into Danny. "Why does mommy let those big boys hurt her?" Lilith whispered

This took Danny by a complete shock because Lilith thought she felt his heart stop beating for a moment before it decided to keep going. "What?"

"Why does mommy let those big boys hurt her?" Lilith said a bit louder.

"What are you talking about Lily?" Danny asked.

Lilith decided to keep going. "Mommy puts me to bed and let big boys come in sometimes when she thinks I'm sleep. Then she closes the door and when they leave and she gets back in her bed and cries. Why does mommy do that?"

Danny was shocked to say the least. What was Lilith talking about?

"Lilith,"

Lilith decided to keep going. "You know that cut mommy has on the side of her stomach?" Danny nodded. "One of those big boys did it to her."

Danny reprimanded himself silently. He knew that cut had been too deep to be from a tree scraping her. "Who are these big boys?"

Lilith looked up at him. "You're a big boy?"

Danny blinked. "Oh, you mean men?"

Lilith blinked. So that's what they were called. "Yeah… men."

Danny silently looked at Lilith in disbelieve. She couldn't mean… No, Sam was more responsible than that. Why would she do something as stupid as that? Unless… No, she had gotten over that. It happened five years ago. Then again, she hadn't dealt with it. She had had no counseling or any outlet of some sort. She hadn't wanted anyone to know about how Lilith was conceived anyway. Maybe she had somehow just suppressed the feelings she felt in trying to focus on her pregnancy and Lilith, but he had to be missing something.

"Danny, can you answer my question?" Lilith asked.

Danny shifted, uncomfortable to be discuss this subject with a four year old child. "Lilith, I really don't know how to answer that on your level."

Lilith groaned in frustration. Why didn't grownups ever tell you what you wanted to know?

"Just tell me." She said softly.

Danny sighed. "I'll have to see if what you say is true and even if it is, you're too young to see the whole picture of this situation."

"You grownups always say that. I'm four. I'm a big girl." Lilith jumped off Danny's lap, turned around to face him with her arms crossed, and stomped her foot. "I want to help mommy so she won't feel bad!" Lilith said angrily.

"I'll tell you what Lily." Danny said. "Tomorrow, I'll come over when the first number on the clock says nine. Deal?"

Lilith looked at Danny for a moment and then broke out into a grin. "Deal!" she stuck out her right hand and Danny shook it. 'I'll tell mommy."

Danny grabbed Lilith's arm before she could go. "No Lily! It's a secret. Don't tell your mother!"

Lilith frowned looking a bit torn between two paths. "Mommy told me not to keep secrets."

Danny sighed looking for a way to say this. "It's not really a secret. It's just private. Your mother doesn't need to know. I'll surprise her."

Lilith smiled. "Okay," she started to skip out the room, but before she left she turned back to Danny. "Thank you Dad- I mean Danny." She blushed and closed the door behind her.

She hit herself on the head at her slip as she went to her mommy's old room. She had almost called Danny, Daddy! She wasn't supposed to call him that, although she wanted to, but her friend from across the street told her that she couldn't call Danny that because Danny and her mother didn't live together and that now she would have to wait until they either lived together or her mommy's stomach got big and she started looking at tiny clothes and boring toys with Danny, like her friend's mommy and daddy did when her mommy's stomach got big.

"I hope mommy's stomach gets big soon so I can call him Daddy." Lilith wished hopefully.

-.oOOo.-

R&R.


	9. Truth

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any character related to it. I am just a dedicated fan.

DarkDragonQueen: I hate my muses at this particular moment. Plot I and III were neck and neck when it came to the votes so when I had decide which one to use, once again Drama and Angst had to pop up in my head. They kept arguing that the first story didn't have enough of them in it and they would not be satisfied until I made a good story with them in it. It got so bad that they started to send me different way to develop the plot of the third Plot and not the first when I attempted to develop it, so in the end I relented. Plot III won and all because my muses wouldn't leave me alone.

You know what I'm about to put here so, here's the shortened version. My grammar's not perfect, use of words and spelling make up for that, so don't go tripping about it and so on and so on…

So without further ado I give you the first chapter of the second book of… _**Trial, Transition, Growth.**_

**-.oOOo.-**

**Truth**

**By**

**DarkDragonQueen**

-.oOOo.-

Sam sighed as she laid on her stomach feeling sicker than ever as she laid on her bed. Somehow she had gotten through Thanksgiving dinner yesterday without a hitch. Note that she said the dinner. Anyway, just as she, Lilith and her newly named cat, Phantom, were about to leave, the cut on her side reopened and started to bleed. Aly, being the ever observant one saw the cut and despite her protest, Maddie led her upstairs so she could take a look at the cut.

Maddie then asked where she had gotten the cut and when Sam said she scraped it on a tree Maddie stopped what she had been doing to look at her. It was too deep to be something like that, so Sam had to add that a sharp branch had cut her at the same time. Maddie shrugged and bought the lie, but reprimanded Sam for not coming to her sooner to tell her about the cut. It could have gotten infected. Sam had known that though. That's why she put something on it everyday to not only stop the bleeding, but to make sure it didn't get infected.

Sam didn't know how she made it through the week. Making up stories to get people off her back was hard work, especially when they were concerned about you. Sam almost felt like simply telling the truth and getting that burden off her, but she didn't want to hear Jazz and Aly telling her she needed to get counseling or some type of psychiatrist to help her. She could handle this all on her own without anyone's help and that's what she was going to do.

Then again, that's what she would do if she could keep Danny off her back. Danny was suspicious and she knew it, but it seem yesterday during dinner he was even more suspicious and he kept look at Lilith like she had told him something that she shouldn't have known.

Wait a minute? Lilith couldn't know. She was too young to know. Sam always sent her to bed before she did anything. She closed the door and made sure she was sleep before she let anyone in. Lilith was smart, but not that smart… Was she?

Sam put her face in her pillow and closed her eyes. She simply needed a long nap. Just as she was about to drift into unconsciousness, the doorbell rang and Sam had to wonder who it was. She wasn't expecting anyone unless Cookie had come over with those hair barrettes for Lilith's hair. She laughed. Cookie, Latasha, and Ayame adored Lilith. When they first saw her they squealed in excitement and spoiled the girl almost rotten.

"I'll get it!" Lilith yelled and she heard the little footsteps headed towards the door.

Sam wasn't worried, the screen was locked and Lilith couldn't figure out how to open it. She heard Lilith's footsteps running coming to her and soon Lilith appeared at the doorway.

"Danny's here!" Lilith exclaimed.

"Danny?" Sam asked putting her head up. What was he doing here? Oh hell, he couldn't see her like this. She panicked and told Lilith to say the first thing she could think of. "Tell him I'm not here."

Lilith shrugged. "Okay,"

Sam got up and scrambled about the room trying to make herself at least look decent.

"Mommy told me to tell you she's not here!" Sam heard Lilith say to Danny and Sam slapped her forehead.

"I really should've expected that…" Sam said giving up and falling down on the bed. Her hair was a mess, she was only wearing her undergarments and her robe. Hell, her house was a mess as well, but she was perfectly fine with that. She had bigger issues to deal with.

"Wow, it's a real mess in this place." She heard Danny's voice say and she sighed falling backwards on the bed. "Where's Sam?"

"In her room." Lilith said. "She's messier than the house."

"Now Lily don't ex-." Danny stopped when he saw Sam lying on her bed staring at the ceiling. "Wow Lily, you weren't kidding when you said that."

Lily frantically shook her head.

"Okay then, why don't you go play Lily while I talk to your mother." Danny suggested and Lilith opened her mouth to protest but Danny raised an eyebrow and Lilith crossed her arms and reluctantly stomped out the room.

Danny closed the door and Sam grabbed a pillow and put it on her face.

"Hi Danny," she said, her voice muffled through the pillow.

"Hey Sam… Or at least I think it's you anyway." Danny went around to the foot of the bed and reached to grab the pillow from Sam. Sam instead held it tightly and when she kept on insisting no matter how hard Danny pulled, he made it intangible so that it went right through her hands.

Sam stared at her hands and then looked at Danny, before sighing and sitting up. "What do you want Danny?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "Oh, it's good to see you too Sam. I'm doing wonderful and yourself?" he asked sarcastically.

Sam sighed again. "Sorry,"

"What's up Sam?" Danny asked sitting next to her on the bed.

"My life definitely isn't." Sam replied dryly as she put her hand to her forehead.

Danny groaned. He would have to use the direct approach. "I know what's been going on or at least I have a clue."

Sam's head shot up as she looked at him. "How did you know?"

"So there is something going on." Danny raised an eyebrow and Sam realized if she hadn't asked that she might have been able to get him off her back a little while longer and just play off that she was sick. "Let's just say a little flower came and told me."

"A little flower?" Sam wondered and then gasped. "Lilith! How does she know? She's-."

"Not stupid. She's a naïve four year old girl maybe, but definitely not stupid." Danny crossed his arms at her.

"Okay, what did she tell you?" Sam asked sighing.

"That you were letting men hurt you." Danny replied.

Sam looked away. "Not all of them did that. It was just once."

"She said she hears you crying at night."

"Well, I won't lie. I do. So what?" Sam crossed her arms.

"Honestly Sam, I'm trying to help you. What's going on?" Danny said letting his temper get the better of him.

"None of your business. I'm a grown woman. I can take care of myself." Sam glared at him.

"If you could do that, you wouldn't be a mess, your house wouldn't be a mess, and Lilith wouldn't be coming to me and telling on you like you were some little girl." Danny stood up.

"Fine, you want to know what's going on!" Sam stood up and went around her bed and grabbed the nice lamp Aly had given her when she first moved into the house. "I hate my life." She threw it to the ground and Danny went to attempt to grab her before she hurt herself. "I hate you for leaving me when I needed you most!" She went over to her dresser and cleared everything off of it letting it fall to the floor. "I hate myself for not being able to defend myself." She grabbed her jewelry box off the floor and threw it at the mirror. "I hate…" Sam went over to the now cracked mirror and began to pound on it mercilessly eventually shattering before she collapsed now in hysterical sobs and tears. Danny caught her before she fell and sat on the floor with her.

"I hate what they did to me." And she was silent letting the tears fall down her cheeks shaking uncontrollably.

It had everything to do with her rape five years ago, but what Danny wondered was what triggered it so that she broke down now.

"Sam," Danny said when she had calmed down and was simply staring at nothing. "Sam, I need you to tell me what happened, what's been happening? I need you to tell me everything that's been going on.

Sam turned her head to look at him. "Danny, I… Danny," Sam started breathing hard and clutched her lower abdomen.

"Sam what's wrong?"

Sam began to cry again. "It hurts Danny. It hurts so bad."

"Sam!" Danny grabbed her shoulders. "What is it?"

"No…" Sam was muttering frantically. "No!"

Danny stood up. "Lilith!" he called and the little girl came running in. "Get in the car."

Lilith looked confused as she stroked her cat's fur. "Why?" she looked past Danny and saw her mother in pain. "What's wrong with mommy?"

"I don't know, but I need you to get in the car." Danny went to grab Sam and grabbed the keys off the floor and tossed them to Lilith.

"Do you know which button to press?" Lilith nodded dropping Phantom to catch the keys. "Good go!"

"Come on Phantom." Lilith called and the little kitten ran behind her.

Danny picked up Sam with no effort and went to the car where Lilith was waiting in the back seat clutching the active kitten in her arms. She had put the key in the ignition. He buckled Sam in the front seat and then got in the driver's seat and turned the ignition.

"Danny, I'm scared." Sam managed to whisper through her choked sobs.

Danny nodded as he stroked her cheek. "I'm scared for you too."

Sam shook her head as he backed out the driveway. "Not for me." She choked out. "For the baby."

-.oOOo.-

R&R.


	10. Confessions

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any character related to it. I am just a dedicated fan.

DarkDragonQueen: I hate my muses at this particular moment. Plot I and III were neck and neck when it came to the votes so when I had decide which one to use, once again Drama and Angst had to pop up in my head. They kept arguing that the first story didn't have enough of them in it and they would not be satisfied until I made a good story with them in it. It got so bad that they started to send me different way to develop the plot of the third Plot and not the first when I attempted to develop it, so in the end I relented. Plot III won and all because my muses wouldn't leave me alone.

You know what I'm about to put here so, here's the shortened version. My grammar's not perfect, use of words and spelling make up for that, so don't go tripping about it and so on and so on…

So without further ado I give you the first chapter of the second book of… _**Trial, Transition, Growth.**_

**-.oOOo.-**

**Confessions**

**By**

**DarkDragonQueen**

-.oOOo.-

Danny sighed as he opened the door to Sam home later that night with a sleeping Sam in his arms. It was a tough feat, but he managed it. He went to her room and laid her on the bed and sighed as he went to the couch in the living room. It had been a long day that was for sure.

After Sam had started complaining about the pains in her stomach, he had rushed her to the emergency room of the hospital. By the time they had gotten there though the pains in the girl's lower abdomen had subsided and she was crying tears of anguish muttering 'The baby… My baby,' under her breath. After a series of test and being at the hospital all day it had been concluded that she had suffered a miscarriage.

Danny sighed. He had gotten parts of the story, but he had to hear the whole thing from her if he wanted to know what had happened completely. It had to wait until morning though. He sighed as he picked up the phone to call one of the girls that Sam said she had befriended at the school she was going to. Her name was Ayame, he believed. Anyway, the three girls were the only people Sam said were available, and as much as he hated to send Lilith with people he barely knew, she was right.

Aly had left right after dinner the night before. Valerie had gone out of town to see family and everyone else they both knew were busy so it was the only choice they had.

The phone rung three times before the girl with the Japanese accent replied.

"Ayame?" Danny asked

"Oh, Danny?" she asked over the phone sounding as though she was adjusting the phone on her ear.

"I was just calling to check on Lilith."

"Oh," Ayame laughed. "She's just fine. As a matter of fact, you can talk to her right now."

Danny frowned. "She's still up."

"I promised her I would do her hair and she wouldn't go to bed until I did it." Ayame sighed. "Lilith, stop moving your head."

"Tell her I said it's time for bed." Danny laughed. On the other end he could hear Ayame relay the message, Lilith whine in protest, and then the Japanese girl promising to finish it the next day. "So," Ayame whispered once she was back on line. "How is she?"

"Oh, Sam… She's fine. Knocked out at the moment though," Danny shrugged.

"So do you know what happened?" Ayame paused. "The entire story I mean?"

"Not yet." Danny sighed.

"Well, I can keep Lilith for as long as you need so don't worry about her. I've got to go. Take care of Sam, bye."

"Bye," Danny hung up the phone.

Danny got up and went to the kitchen. His mind was too preoccupied for sleep he decided as he took out the coffee maker. It was hardly a secret that Sam liked coffee and any type of espresso, so it was only natural for her to have a coffee pot in the house.

Danny sat at the table when the coffee was done with the half & half and organic sugar. Just as he was about to pour his coffee, he heard a sigh behind him. He turned around to see Sam at the doorway. She had thrown her hair into a sloppy ponytail and was now eying the coffee.

"I don't want to go to sleep. Mind some company?" she asked him crossing her arms.

Danny shrugged. "It's your house. Do what you want." He turned back around about to pour the coffee, but was stopped by Sam who had taken it from his hands and was pouring it into her own mug. She sat it down, went to the table to sit down and put half & half in her coffee before putting barely a half a teaspoon of sugar in it and stirring it.

By the time Danny had poured his she was sitting with her hands wound the mug and was staring at the coffee. Danny fixed his coffee and was about to take a sip when he noticed that Sam was still staring at the brown liquid.

"Are you alright?" Danny asked concerned.

Sam sighed. "You know I'm not." She admitted. "I haven't been completely alright since before I was raped five years ago and I've just now realized that." She looked up at him and then back down at her coffee. "You want an explanation don't you?"

"It doesn't have to be now." Danny said not wanting to push her.

"The longer we wait the more tight lipped I'll become so we might as well get this over with." Sam sighed. "It started around two months or so ago…" And from there she explained all the events that had happened over the last few months including the party she was persuaded into going to. By the time she was done, it was three o'clock and she had drunk five cups of the hot liquid Danny had prepared.

Danny was almost shaking with rage when he heard the beginning of Sam's explanation. She had been through so much already and had just now been starting recover and something else had to happen, but this time there was no child that needed to be prepared for to keep her occupied.

"Oh Danny," Sam whispered and finally she broke as the tears flooded her eyes. "Why did this have to happen to me again? Why couldn't it have been someone else or no one at all better yet?"

"Sam," Danny started.

"I tried. I really did. I didn't want that to happen, but I had to protect Lilith. That was my only thought the whole time and when I realized what was happening I had to do something." She was shaking now. "So what, I felt really disgusted with myself in the morning and I wanted to die, but if I could do it over I don't think I would change anything of it meant keeping Lilith safe. She was my reason for carrying on. If it hadn't been for her, I think I'd be in bad shape or dead. I don't know what I'd do without my baby…" she trailed off as she let out a sob and fell out the chair she was sitting in from shaking so bad.

Danny immediately got up and rushed to her side pulling her close to him and simply holding the shaking woman. When she finally calmed and was drifting off a bit she sighed and spoke once before falling asleep.

"I don't know what I do without you either Danny." She whispered and closed her eyes.

-.oOOo.-

Sam moaned as she rubbed her head against the warm firm surface of… something. She wasn't quite sure what, but she didn't care she was rather comfortable. When she couldn't get back to sleep she opened her eyes and realized that she was lying on Danny's warm chest. He also had his arm wrapped around her protectively as though he were protecting her from the whole world. Sam sighed. She wished he could do just that. She closed her eyes. Even though they were leaning against the cabinet on the cold kitchen floor, she was quite comfortable where she was.

"You're up." Danny asked and Sam jumped startled. She hadn't even looked to see if halfa was awake.

"Yeah," Sam sighed. "Thank you Danny… For everything." She added.

"No problem." Danny shrugged "I'll always be here for you Sam."

"I know that now." She smiled burying her face in his chest and memorizing his scent.

"You should have known it a long time ago. I've been here with you for the last five years. Where else do I have to go?"

"You better stay here with me." Sam laughed. Just confiding in him last night had helped her and though the girl had a long way to go on the path of healing, as long as she had Danny, she could do it.

"Well," Danny sighed. "I'll be her for another week and then I have to leave."

Sam looked down disappointed.

"But I'll be back for Christmas." Danny added with a grin.

Sam grinned back and hugged him tight. "I love you so much." She sighed and then froze realizing what she had said.

Danny rubbed her back and kissed her forehead. "And I love you more." He said tilting her head up looking into her eyes…

"Hey!" a little voice exclaimed and the couple saw Lilith run into the kitchen. "I want a hug too!"

She pounced on Danny and Sam ruining the moment between the two.

"Where did you come from?" Danny frowned.

Ayame then walked into the kitchen. "I couldn't stop her. She wanted to see her mother and I said I'd take her for a while. She found the spare key before I could knock and burst in to find you. Sorry,"

Sam laughed. "That's alright."

Lilith peered closely at her mother. "Are you alright now mommy?" she asked.

Sam sighed. "I will be… eventually." She quietly added the last part. "All I need to do is take the time to heal."

-.oOOo.-

R&R.


	11. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any character related to it. I am just a dedicated fan.

**DarkDragonQueen: I only put this in bold when it's a really important announcement, but this is the last chapter. If you think I'm crying believe me I am. I really enjoyed you all and your reviews, but guess what! There's a side story and there's the sequel to this, but before we go on I need a vote.**

**Do you want Tucker to be with Valerie or Aly? I really didn't intend for Tucker to be with Aly. I really don't like pairing my OCs with the characters from the show, but if that's what you want, I'll make it work. I need this before the next part of this story is up so please leave you response with your review.**

**Sorry about the horiffically long wait but life and duty calls and boy has my life been busy, not to mention I have the sneaking suspicion my mohter is pregnant again, but she won't admit it because she wants no more children... Not that I blame her.**

You know what I'm about to put here so, here's the shortened version. My grammar's not perfect, use of words and spelling make up for that, so don't go tripping about it and so on and so on…

So without further ado I give you the last chapter of the second book of… _**Trial, Transition, Growth.**_

**-.oOOo.-**

**Epilogue**

**By**

**DarkDragonQueen**

-.oOOo.-

Sam groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. Was it really morning already? She could use a few more hours of sleep, but she knew she couldn't do that. It's time to get up she told herself and forced herself out of bed while looking at the time. She needed to be at the airport in an hour and a half to meet with the Fentons to welcome Danny back home for the summer. She hadn't seen him in six months. Since Christmas… It had seemed like such a long time, but now that she looked back, it hadn't been that long. After Danny finished college, she would have him all to herself.

Okay, so she would have to share him with his family and Lilith of course, but since she was now officially his girlfriend she had the right to have him more than everyone else did.

She padded softly into Lilith's room and gently awoke the sleeping girl. "Lilith, come on. Get up."

Lilith pulled the cover over her head. "I don't want to get up. I want to stay in the bed." She whined.

"Lilith, baby, come on." Sam pulled to cover off of her daughter. "I don't have the time or the energy to play this morning. Besides, if you don't get up, I won't have enough time to eat breakfast before we go see Danny at the airport."

"Danny's coming back." The little four year old jumped up. "Forget breakfast mommy. Let's go. Come on Phantom."

"Lilith, it'll be quick. I promise, but you have to get dressed and ready while I go prepare the cereal alright?"

"Okay mommy!" Lilith ran to the bathroom and Sam sighed. This would give her time to get herself dressed.

An hour and fifteen minutes later she was rushing herself and Lilith out the door to the car making sure to lock the door behind her.

"Phantom, come on." Sam called the lean black cat that she had let out only minutes before. She didn't know where the female cat went, but she hoped it wasn't in activities that would bring back more little kittens. Not that she couldn't afford it, but until she got a bigger living space, one cat was enough.

The cat jumped into the car just before Lilith pulled the back door closed. Sam backed out of the driveway and made her way to the airport. She looked at the time and sighed in relief when she saw she would be about five minutes early. A lot had happened in the last few months. She had finally gotten her hair license and now worked at a salon that Ayame had opened (or rather been forced to open by her parents). She only was able to work part time recently though. And she couldn't forget Phantom, who had only been a kitten a few months ago and was now a feisty, sweet, but spoiled young adult cat.

"Mommy, are we there yet?" Lilith snapped her out of her thoughts.

"No dear."

"But mommy, we might miss Danny. Can you drive faster?" Lilith asked eagerly.

"Lilith Danny will be here for the whole summer. We'll get there." Sam said getting off at the exit that went into the airport.

She drove around for a moment searching for a space to park.

"There's one mommy!" Lilith pointed out.

Sam shook her head. "It's too far dear. I want to park closer."

"But mommy you've been searching for hours. We're going to miss Danny." Lilith whined.

"Lilith, be quiet." Sam demanded and Lilith abruptly closed her mouth as Sam finally found a parking space. "Alright Lilith come on."

Lilith was way ahead of her however and was already out the car with Phantom in her arms. "Come on mommy, hurry up."

Sam paced herself as she followed her running daughter into the airport. She was eventually able to grab Lilith's hand and lead her to where the Fenton's, Tucker, Aly, who had come in on an earlier flight, and Valerie were standing.

"We've been here for almost an hour and you get here at the last minute." Valerie smirked. "What were you doing? Pigging out for breakfast?"

Sam sat down and crossed her arms. "Don't tease me. Besides, I was tired. I really just wanted to stay in bed and wait for Danny to come to my house."

"Why? So, you could get a little _alone_ time with him?" Aly grinned.

"You two just have no shame, do you?" Sam asked and even Jazz laughed at the blush on the girl's cheeks.

Tucker whom had a DVD recorder in his hands at the entrance spoke up suddenly in excitement. "Oh look, there's Danny!" he shouted.

Everyone rushed to where Danny was and a mini reunion came about. Sam stood behind with Lilith as everyone hugged and greeted Danny. Then, everyone parted to let Sam by to greet Danny. The raven haired woman was suddenly very shy as she forced herself to look up at Danny. She reached to hug Danny and then Danny pulled her back to kiss her softly on the lips.

Behind them everyone was grinning broadly. "You think he noticed?" Mr. Fenton asked.

"If he's as clueless as you dear, no." Mrs. Fenton replied.

"I can't wait to see the look on his face." Tucker grinned. "This is going to be priceless."

"I know," Aly squealed.

"You think it'll be funny enough to send to America's funniest home videos?" Valerie asked smirking.

"You know I don't like you to do that in public." Sam blushed looking down.

"I know. I'll save the rest for when we get some _private_ time." Danny grinned and Sam hit him on the arm.

"Is that all you think about. Go get your head out of the gutter." Sam said.

"Mommy are you gonna tell him?" Lilith jumped up and down.

"Lilith,"

"Tell me what?" Danny asked running his hand through Lilith's hair.

Sam blushed. "I would have told you sooner, but I didn't want to tell you over the phone."

"What is it?" Danny frowned.

Sam took a deep breath. "I am pregnant." She put a hand to her six month pregnant belly.

Danny stood there looking flabbergasted for a few moments. He was speechless. When it did finally register in his brain though…

"That's wonderful." He picked her up and hugged her.

Sam laughed. "Wait a minute. That's not it."

"There's more." Danny asked in disbelief.

"Yes!" Sam responded. "It's twins." She revealed leaving Danny speechless once again. Then under her breath so no one would hear she added, "A little ghost boy and a little ghost girl."

-.oOOo.-

The Sequel will hopefully come soon... Once I get time to type it that is. Expect a long wait. R&R.


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